atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Small business system recommendations

This post will probably be longer than it needs to be, sorry..

My company has asked me to source a new phone system for them, and while I spent several years in telecom years back, it's been a while and I could use some advice. I appreciate any help that is offered.

The office is a small one, with 1 receptionist station and 4 desk stations. Currently we are using a pretty basic AT&T set of phones with a wired receptionist station feeding 4 cordless ones. Pretty minimal features and several problems. The biggest issues are no music on hold and since they are all just extensions, current calls can and do get interrupted by new outgoing call attempts from other stations.

This is what we are looking for:

- 2+ lines (just 2 lines now, but growth is good)
- 5 stations, including receptionist
- Music on hold input (not some vendor pre-selected list of music)
- Corded stations
- No more crossing lines - when I am on line 1, no one else should be able to select that line for a new call.
- Auto attendant (Optional)
- Voice mail for each user (optional).

The corded solution means I will be putting in new drop, so at that point it doesn't matter to me whether it's cat 5e or rj45. We WILL NOT be using a VoIP solution. I'm looking at the AT&T SYN248, which seems to have most of what I'm looking for at a fairly reasonable price. Is it a turd? Is there a better option?

I am a computer and small network tech, with some telco experience, so I'm not afraid of doing this myself. And, since we are in a pretty rural area, with zero installers within 2 hours, that is what will be happening. Again, I appreciate any advice and sorry for the verbose post.

The AT&T system you mention is indeed a turd.

Check what vendors are in your area and have them give you quotes and then make your selection based on the vendor first and system second.

Your needs are very basic and any system you buy will exceed them.

Avaya Partner.

Partner would be a good system .... just beware that it is not a current offering.

I should point out that I don't have any professional certifications and that I'm a collector. Frankly, if you can set up and confidently use a smartphone, you are qualified to program a Partner system.

The Partner ACS would be a good choice with the understanding that any hardware purchased will be used/refurbished. Prices have stabilized after a period of eye popping spikes.

While the system is...relatively easy to figure out...it is highly recommended that you download a copy of the "Installation, Programming and Use Guide" and familiarize with how the system is programmed.

^and Paul hit on another reason why I highly recommend the Partner.

Availability of documentation.

Avaya Support is excellent, and their website, https://support.avaya.com/ is a great resource that allows you to freely search and download technical, installation, and specification manuals and even end user guides for pretty much everything they make.

The TransTel Lynx Would work well for you but you would need to add expander card to have the 5th digital station. There is also the Lynx II which handles 8 digital phones but no analog ports.

Wow! You all have been more than helpful. Thanks! Our owner has a thing against used and/or refurbished hardware, so the Partner is out - though I do have experience with it and like it myself. I'm liking the looks of the Transtel Lynx II. I'm still doing my due diligence and research, but does anyone know about how this system is to install and maintain?

Take a look at the ESI 50 Light. It's relatively inexpensive and very easy to use. It has built-in voice mail with auto attendant, dial-by-name directory, mailboxes for all users etc... The 30d phones are the least expensive, but I would consider getting the 48-key phones. We put these in, train the client, give them a user cheat sheet and an admin cheat sheet and they never call us with questions on how to use the system.